Hitherto known automatic filter coffee percolators are designed for making only a single type of coffee. If for instance a restaurant or the like offers caffeine-free coffee in addition to normal coffee, one of the two types has to be brewed manually or by the employ of a second percolator. Both these alternatives are uneconomical in that in the first case there is no control possible of the amount of coffee sold, while in the second case the additional coffee percolator is usually not in full-time operation and is thus not in cost-effective operation.
In an instant beverage vending machine of the type described in DE-OS No. 31 33 778 it is already known to provide a plurality of separate supply containers for different base products and to connect these containers via chutes to a dispensing outlet disposed above a receptacle location. In the case of coffee percolators this system has not yet been applied, since the steam escaping during the coffee brewing operation would cause the coffee meal in the chutes to coagulate. In the known beverage vending machine there is thus in fact provided an additional section for brewing coffee in the traditional manner, this device similarly permitting only a single type of coffee to be made.